PEGA's Paper Alloy Could Bring Paper Laptops Our Way

PEGA Design and Engineering‘s latest award-winning material might just put more paper on your desk — in the form of a laptop computer! The material, Paper PP Alloy, is said to be a strong, sturdy, affordable, environmentally friendly alternative to the plastics and metals that currently encase many of our consumer electronics.

We first spotted Paper PP Alloy at the Milan Furniture Fair last year, and now the innovative, environmentally friendly Alloy gained PEGA their third iF Material Award in a row. The material is composed of a mixture of paper and polypropylene. While polypropylene may not be the most eco-friendly substance out there, it is recyclable, and its presence makes the alloy compatible with mold injection manufacturing techniques. This compatibility vastly reduces the costs of adapting manufacturing processes to accommodate the Alloy, which is vital to the paper-based material’s chance of making it on the mass market.

Even better news is that PEGA believes that the polypropylene is easy to retrieve from the alloy. This would mean that laptops manufactured with Paper PP Alloy could, in theory, be completely recyclable – great news for consumers and electronic manufacturers everywhere. As some have pointed out, 17 US States have already banned or plan to ban, electronic waste from landfills in an effort to reduce the quantities of lead, cadmium and mercury seeping into our groundwater.

The eco-design firm, who previously brought us laptops encased in Bamboo and in Cellulose Acetate are confident that their Paper PP Alloy has the capacity to revolutionize the world of laptop computer making, and we’re certainly curious to see if this innovative material can help green our mass-produced consumer electronics.

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Green JoyFebruary 15, 2012 at 9:01 pm

Great! If this materials such as these become industry standard, we can significantly reduce eWaste and deal a blow to the world’s landfills. It reminds me of MiniWiz’s Polliber (Taiwanese green company) that is made of recycled plastic mixed with plant waste. It’s a pretty tough material, they’ve made various products with it, such as an iPhone case, they might want to try a hand at making something similar to this. Cheers.